Sunday, September 16, 2012

The Wonderful Powder - DDT

Scientists have discovered what could be a new breed of mosquito in Africa with the potential to cause hundreds of thousands more deaths from malaria. Charities say the previously unknown parasite could pose a serious setback to the global fight against the disease – one of the world's biggest killers.

Researchers said the discovery is worrying because the insect does not behave like normal mosquitoes. Already nearly one million people a year die from malaria caused by bites. But that number would be much higher were it not for mosquito nets. They prevent the female anopheles – the main cause of the disease – from biting at night, when it sucks blood as part of its egg-production cycle. Nearly one million people are thought to have cheated death over the past 12 years by sleeping under nets coated with insecticide.

The new type of mosquito, however, does not wait until night-time; it bites while people are outdoors in the early evening. Even more worrying for the scientists is that they are as yet unable to match the DNA of the new species to any existing mosquito variety.

Jennifer Stevenson of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was part of the research group, said: "We observed that many mosquitoes we caught – including those infected with malaria – did not physically resemble other known malaria mosquitoes.

"Analysis indicated that their DNA differed from sequences available for known malaria-transmitting mosquitoes in Africa."

Researchers are worried that the feeding daytime pattern of the new tropical bug posed a serious challenge to controlling the disease.

Ms Stevenson said her team found the species in a village in the highlands of western Kenya where they set up outdoor and indoor traps: "The main difference that came through from this study is that we caught 70 per cent of these species A – which is what we named them because we don't know exactly what they are – outdoors before 10.30pm, which is the time when people in the village usually go indoors."

Andrew Griffiths, from the children's charity World Vision, said the findings are a setback in the worldwide battle against malaria: "It's concerning because bed nets are one of the important tools in combating malaria and we've seen deaths go down dramatically."

He added that while nets are not the only answer to reducing the incidence of the disease, they are one of the main ways.

"It would mean that one of the important parts in the response to malaria would be taken away. We have to be talking about protecting yourself at different times of the day and put even more focus on the community and other systems without too much reliance on bed nets."

Scientists who led the study in Kenya are now calling for wider controls to deal with outdoor transmission of the disease.

Jo Lines, a colleague of Ms Stevenson at London's tropical medicine hospital and a former co-ordinator for the World Health Organisation's global malaria programme, said: "We do not yet know what these unidentified specimens are, or whether they are acting as vectors [transmitters] on a wider scale, but in the study area they are clearly playing a major and previously unsuspected role."

The history of the UN and DDT mirrors that of Climategate just as the professional career of Rachel Carson mirrors that of Michael Mann. It's the story of elitists pushing their believes even though they are not supported by the scientific evidence and even if it costs millions of lives. It's the message that's important not the end results. But then, what more need someone say about the UN and the PC wackos out there?

In 1955, the World Health Organization commenced a program to eradicate malaria worldwide, relying largely on DDT. The program was initially highly successful, eliminating the disease in "Taiwan, much of the Caribbean, the Balkans, parts of northern Africa, the northern region of Australia, and a large swath of the South Pacific"[20] and dramatically reducing mortality in Sri Lanka and India.[21] However widespread agricultural use led to resistant insect populations. In many areas, early victories partially or completely reversed, and in some cases rates of transmission even increased.[22] The program was successful in eliminating malaria only in areas with "high socio-economic status, well-organized healthcare systems, and relatively less intensive or seasonal malaria transmission".[

DDT was less effective in tropical regions due to the continuous life cycle of mosquitoes and poor infrastructure. It was not applied at all in sub-Saharan Africa due to these perceived difficulties. Mortality rates in that area never declined to the same dramatic extent, and now constitute the bulk of malarial deaths worldwide, especially following the disease's resurgence as a result of resistance to drug treatments and the spread of the deadly malarial variant caused by Plasmodium falciparum. The goal of eradication was abandoned in 1969, and attention was focused on controlling and treating the disease. Spraying programs (especially using DDT) were curtailed due to concerns over safety and environmental effects, as well as problems in administrative, managerial and financial implementation, but mostly because mosquitoes were developing resistance to DDT.[22] Efforts shifted from spraying to the use of bednets impregnated with insecticides and other interventions.[

The Japanese embassy official in Beijing said that ahead of the anniversary the embassy will keep urging Japanese citizens in China to avoid speaking their language loudly. He said he expected many Japanese companies will suspend operations on Tuesday, and that most Japanese schools will close.

Possibly complicating Tokyo's handling of the territorial spat, the man chosen to succeed Japan's current ambassador to China, Shinichi Nishimiya, died Sunday morning. The 60-year-old career diplomat was rushed to the hospital in Tokyo late last week—two days after his appointment to the post—because of an illness.

Mr. Nishimiya had been scheduled to leave for Beijing in mid-October to replace Japan's current top envoy to China, Uichiro Niwa, who has been under fire for making what many Japanese have perceived as pro-China remarks over the islets issue.

Libyan and US authorities have given starkly different accounts of what happened during last week's deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.

US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the attack began with a spontaneous protest over the anti-Islamic video that had already set off similar protests in Egypt, leading to the storming of the US embassy there.

Radio host Bill Press is determined to win the title of most useful idiot to the jihad.

...

What, if anything, should happen to the people who made this video? I gotta tell you, I think they are as guilty, that's my opinion, I think they are as guilty as the terrorists who carried out those attacks against our embassy in Libya.

...

They are, I believe, every bit as guilty as al Qaeda members who, think about it, who use the Koran and abuse their religion to stir up hatred against the United States. These so-called Christians, anybody who uses religion to stir up hate, is not a true believer.

...

So, I think the United States ought to identify, yeah, we oughta be going after these terrorists that carried out the attacks in Libya and we are. I think we also ought to be identifying the people who made this video and go after them with the full force of the law and lock their ass up.

Nakoula pleaded no contest in 2010 and was ordered to pay more than $790,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison, but was released early. The terms of his parole included being barred from assuming aliases and using computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.

Many records in the case remain sealed, but prosecutors sought a longer prison term and noted that he misused some of his own relatives' identities to open 600 fraudulent credit accounts.

Los Angeles County District Attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons confirmed that Nakoula also served a year in jail after pleading guilty to possession of meth with the intent to manufacture in 1997.

U.S. officials have said authorities were not investigating the film project itself, and that even if it was inflammatory or led to violence, simply producing it cannot be considered a crime in the United States, which has strong free speech laws.

It could be difficult to establish a probation violation case against Nakoula. In the federal court system, the conditions of supervised release are geared toward the offense for which a defendant was found guilty and imprisoned.In Nakoula's case, the offense was bank fraud. His no contest plea was to charges of setting up fraudulent bank accounts using stolen identities and Social Security numbers, depositing checks from those accounts into other phony accounts and then withdrawing the illicit funds from ATM machines.

While it was unclear what might have provoked authorities' interest, the filmmaker's use of a false identity and his access to the Internet through computers could be at issue, according to experts in cyber law and the federal probation system. Nakoula, who told the AP that he was logistics manager for the film, was under requirements to provide authorities with records of all his bank and business accounts.

During an interview with AP, Nakoula denied that he was Sam Bacile, but acknowledged knowing him. Stan Goldman, a Loyola Law School professor, said whether Nakoula is sent back to jail over potential probation violations linked to the film, such as accessing the Internet, was a subjective decision up to an individual judge."Federal judges are gods in their own courtrooms, it varies so much in who they are," he said, noting such a move would be based on his conduct not on the content of the film. Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Just as their fathers learned to fix obsolete Detroit cars, Andy and Roberto have learned to make a living with Palo Alto technology to which they have no official access. The healthy cell-phone repair market here is the latest example of Cuban ingenuity that locals call sobreviviendo. It’s small-scale capitalism working around a 50-year embargo and an anemic, centrally planned economy.

Two months later my phone works perfectly. The next time an Apple Genius tells you there’s no hope, consider it an excuse to visit Havana.

The Obama administration will announce a trade complaint against China today as President Barack Obama campaigns in Ohio, alleging impermissible subsidies of auto- and auto-parts exports that encourage outsourcing to China from the U.S., an administration official said.

Obama and Republican Mitt Romney have been trading accusations over China in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign. Obama is expected to defend his record on U.S. jobs and China policy during stops in Cincinnati and Columbus today.

This latest case to go before the World Trade Organization in Geneva is being announced as Obama returns to a battleground state with 54,200 residents employed by the auto-parts industry and 12.4 percent of the state’s total employment related to the auto industry.

The U.S. is accusing China of $1 billion in illegal subsidies between 2009-11 that benefit as much as 60 percent of Chinese auto-parts exports, according to the official, who asked to speak on condition of anonymity in advance of the public announcement.

"It's like Timothy McVeigh, walking into a shop in Oklahoma City and saying, I'd like to tend my garden. I'd like to buy some fertilizer.

How much do you want? Oh, I don't know, 20,000 pounds.

Come on. We know that they're working towards a weapon," Mr. Netanyahu said, drawing comparisons to Mr. McVeigh's use of a fertilizer bomb to destroy a federal government building in 1995, in an attack that killed 168 people.

They don't live in the impact area. The boy has served out his six year commitment to Uncle Sam, USMC and Army National Guard. So he won't be going back to the sand box. We'll leave that for you and yours.

If Bibi wants to take Israel into a war with Iran, he should get on with it.

But for twenty years he has been trying to get the US to carry his water, instead of having Israel take on the responsibility , itself. He is looking for a handout, and I do not think he or Israel deserves it.

The US should not shed one drop of blood or spend another dime in any sand box fight.

We should grow our own domestic fuel and leave the Saudis and Iranians to the Charlie Chi-com.

The history is: the one that comes out of the conventions ahead (after the "bounce" has dissipated) Always wins the election. It seems the debates never change the leaderboard.

This has held true for 15 straight elections. I doubt that it will change this time. If I had to guess, I'd say, Obama's ahead by about 1 point, and will end up winning by about the same. Probably won't be quite so close "electoral-wise."

I am not sure about that. Wherever you look, if we had an honest media, which we do not, Obama would be toast.Romney seems incapable of a simple coherent message. All he has to do is rally behind, “Obama has to go,”

I hardly have the stomach to put up a post and there is so much that could be put up. If I said what I really thought… well I won’t.

I do remember, back in 2009 when Deuce blamed Obama for the stock market crash and the "loss" of wealth associated with it.Well, the market has recovered, was it Obama that "created" the wealth associated with that recovery?

Obama was neither responsible for the loss, nor the recovery.That's the honest truth.

Taxes have never been lower, income disparity never greater.That's the honest truth.

Illegal immigration and bad trade agreements. It is hard to export construction jobs but a Mexican dry wall hangar does wonders for reducing costs and wages on construction projects. Government unions also depress wages as companies choose to relocate a la California.

Obama is not responsible for the trade agreements, but he sure has encouraged government unions and has encouraged illegal immigration.

Special Orders 191 fell into Li'l Mac's hands. He said, "If I can't whip Bobby Lee with this, I will be willing to go home!" He didn't, and he did, replaced by Burnside, who fought for eight hours trying to take a bridge against some Georgians he outnumbered forty to one, over a creek they could have waded across.

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.